Weird, Cool & Fun by Rick

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Sony to Begin Producing Vinyl Records Again

Sony Music, the world's second largest producer of recorded music, has announced that by March 2018 it will begin production of vinyl records in-house once again after ceasing production in 1989 because of the public's apparent lack of interest and demand for CD's. The move comes in response to an unexpected new massive demand that appears to have begun just a few years ago.Now, vinyl record sales are skyrocketing! According to Time Magazine, over 9.2 million records were sold in 2014. Then the number jumped to nearly 12 million in 2015, which was the highest sales total since 1988. Now, this past year, sales of vinyl records were actually higher than CD's for at least one month in Britain.Sony has announced that they have "found" a cutting lathe for its Tokyo studios so they can produce master discs which are needed to manufacture vinyl records. In the U.S., NPR has reported that there are only about 16 operating presses still remaining in the country. Most of them are now overloaded with the new demand.According to the BBC, Sony is now faced with a problem of being able to find engineers who are still alive who remember how the manufacturing process works to create vinyl records in the first place. Holy Cow! Who would have thought this would happen after CD's came along?Thanks very much for taking the time to read my blog!If you enjoy reading these articles, please take a second to CLICK on a few of the ads that are on here alongside them. It will only take a second and would be greatly appreciated!

Saturday, May 27, 2017

$500 Million Poppy Field Accidentally Discovered in N.C.

Talk about bad luck, this happened last week in Catawba County, North Carolina, and boy, the guy who was arrested must feel stupid as you-know-what.Sheriff's Office deputies got a phone tip last week about an unrelated charge and knocked on the door of Mr. Cody Xiong. Xiong opened the door and thought the deputies were there about the illegal plants in his back yard, so he said, "I guess you're here for the opium?"When authorities walked to Xiong's back yard, they discovered around 2,000 plants with an estimated value of about $500 million. The actual value will depend on how much the plants actually weigh. When processed, the opium is usually turned into morphine or heroin.Opium plants are quite illegal to grow in the U.S. and most other countries. The field was about an acre in size and is located near Claremont, a Catawba County town located about 40 miles north of Charlotte. Claremont has a population of about 1,300 people.Xiong, 37, is also suspected of being involved in a cockfighting operation. The deputies found quite a number of chickens around the home with unusual wounds. A total of eighty chickens were confiscated.Xiong was charged with manufacturing a Schedule II drug and trafficking in opium. He has been released on $45,000 bail.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Activist Wants To Publish Politicians' Browsing Histories

Last Tuesday our beloved U.S. House of Representatives proposed legislation to wipe out the landmark online privacy protections that were approved by the FCC during the final days of the Obama administration. The Senate voted the same way last week. Now the resolution goes to President Trump's desk for his signature. The White House has said that it "strongly supports" the repeal.

The rules, which had actually not yet gone into effect, would require Internet service providers to get your permission before they can collect and share your personal data. You did know that your service provider has data on everything you do on the Internet, including your browsing history, application use and even your satellite location, right? And they would also have been required to notify you about whatever types of information they were paid to share about you.Well, there's this guy in Chattanooga who's really upset at all of this and knows enough about how the Internet works that he can actually do something about it. Adam McElhaney has decided that when this law goes into effect, he's going to turn the tables on everybody who voted for it and purchase the Internet histories of every single legislator, congressman, and executive who voted for the bill, along with their family's information, and make it easily searchable on the web.Yup, everything from their medical, personal, financial, infidelity, porn searches, etc. Whatever he can find, he's going to publish it for all of us to see and enjoy. And he's asking for donations, "to restore our right to privacy."So far, his campaign, which was seeking $10,000, has raised something over $160,000 and the figure is rising fast. Adam's website is https://www.gofundme.com/searchinternethistory.Sounds like a pretty good idea to me.Thanks very much for taking the time to read my blog! If you enjoy reading these articles, please take a second to CLICK on a few of the ads that are on here. It would be greatly appreciated!

Monday, November 21, 2016

Seaweed Found to Reduce Cow Methane

For those of us concerned about global warming, it's a fact that around 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions globally are due to methane released from cattle and other ruminant animals. Scientist in Canada have now discovered a particular seaweed that when fed to cattle reduces methane to nearly zero in their burps and their other, smelly and noxious, gaseous emissions. In the U.S. alone there are some 40 million cows, and all of them are contributing methane to our breathable air. Joe Dorgan, a farmer in Seacow Pond, Canada, began feeding his cattle seaweed he carried from the beaches nearby as a way to cut costs. He was so impressed with the lack of odors coming from his herd that he decided to turn the seaweed into a retail product.Scientists from Dalhousie University tested Dorgan's seaweed mix and found it reduced the methane in the cows' emissions by about 20 per cent. They tried 30 to 40 other seaweeds and discovered that a red seaweed named Asparagopsis taxiformis reduces methane emissions in cows to almost nothing.According to Rob Kinley, the lead scientist, "Agriculture stands to be one of the first to make major changes in the greenhouse gas inventory and so it's really a game changer if we can get this out into the market."

Kinley says it could take around three to five years to get commercial animal feed made from the seaweed to market. "Agriculture stands to be one of the first to make major changes in the greenhouse gas inventory and so it's really a game changer if we can get this out into the market. We're talking numbers equivalent to hundreds of millions of cars."

Friday, August 19, 2016

New Flying Butt Takes Flight!

Yes, you are probably reading it first here ... the new Airlander 10, billed as the world's largest aircraft, has officially taken flight on its maiden voyage in Jolly Old England. The huge craft completed its first test flight taking off from the Cardington Airfield in the English countryside of Bedfordshire and stayed in the air to the amazement and probably joking public for around 20 minutes Wednesday. (A less graphic image):Nicknamed by many as the "Flying Bum", the helium-filled craft developed by Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), of Shortstown, Bedford is 302 feet long by 142 feet wide and supposedly can reach an altitude of up to 16,000 feet. It will normally stay airborne from about five days to two weeks depending on the assignment ... (sorry!).The craft was originally designed to be used by the US government for surveillance but there were budget cutbacks and those plans were scrapped. So, HAV decided to turn it into a commercial aircraft. The gigantic butt ... er aircraft ... can take off and land from many different surfaces including water, sand or ice. It's powered by four 325 horsepower diesel V8 engines that operate independently and has a top speed of about 91 miles per hour. The payload capacity is stated as being up to 11 tons.HAV says the Airlander is designed to carry heavier loads than most other aircraft and use less fuel in the process. The ship, or perhaps even larger versions of it, (bigger butts?) may begin transporting passengers and cargo around 2020. One report questioned whether whether its butt-like appearance will be changed or become any less hilarious by then.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Olympic Waters Still Full of Raw Sewage

Just days before the Olympic Games are scheduled to begin in Rio de Janeiro, apparently the waters there are just as filthy as ever. Raw human sewage, dangerous viruses and bacteria, trash and God knows what else is swimming around everywhere, according to a new AP study.Nearly 90 percent of the test sites tested positive for infectious cultures which, according to biomedical expert Valerie Harwood from the University of South Florida, is "unheard of" in surface waters in the US. "You would never, ever see these levels because we treat our waste water. You just would not see this."The Australians are complaining too. And not just about the water. Ceilings in their rooms are falling in, exposed wires and needing buckets to catch water leaks are also problems. The accommodations in Rio's Olympic village are described as 'unlivable'.

In the AP report, not only are the 1,400 athletes at risk of becoming violently ill in the water competitions, but their tests indicate that tourists will also be facing potentially serious health risks on the beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana.The most contaminated points are said to be the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, where the Olympic rowing competition will take place, and at the Gloria Marina, where the sailing races are to start.Raw sewage continues to flow into the Gloria Marina through storm drains. The AP study shows up to 1.7 million times what would normally be considered worrisome concentrations of sewage in the United States or Europe. At those concentrations, the swimmers and athletes who ingest just three teaspoons of water will almost certainly be infected with viruses that can cause stomach and respiratory illnesses and potentially heart and brain inflammation.The danger is not only in the water. The beach sand has been tested at Copacabana and Ipanema revealing high levels of viruses, which recent studies suggest can pose a health risk - particularly to babies and small children.The beaches are so bad that they even violate Rio state's own standards, which are much less stringent than those in the US. But athletes who have trained a number of years to have a chance at Olympic glory have apparently resigned themselves to competing in the filth. However, tourists may not realize the dangers.Rio has been trying to clean up its waterways for decades. A promised billion-dollar investment in cleanup programs was supposed to be among the games' most important legacies, but the lofty promises have almost all ended in failure.Planning on a trip to the games this summer? Not me.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Instagram and Kim K. Accused of “Un-Islamic” Crimes

The Organized Cyberspace Crimes Unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards has accused Facebook’s Instagram of working with Kim Kardashian West to corrupt Iranian women. The report is making headline news in the Muslim world and a spokesman for the OCCU is quoted as saying, ‘"There is no doubt that financial support is involved as well. We are taking this very seriously."According to British tabloid reports, an ongoing effort has been going on for several months in Iran designed to crack down on Instagram posts which authorities there consider “un-Islamic.” And now Ms. Kardashian-West, who has erupted on the world scene over the past several years as being an unstoppable pop and culture icon in the entertainment industry, is now charged with a “complicated ploy” designed to corrupt the lifestyle of the Islamic republic.

According to an article published this week on the website IranWire, operated by Iranian citizen journalists, the OCCU thinks that Ms. Kardashian West has been working on behalf of the CEO of Instagram, Kevin Systrom, to “target young people and women with photos of a provocative nature that depict a lifestyle that is in conflict with Islam.”Mostafa Alizadeh, a spokesman for the OCCU, is quoted as saying on a Sunday night Iranian news program that the aim of Mr. Systrom is to try and make fashion modeling more native to the country of Iran and that Ms. Kardashian West is apparently attempting to implement this scheme for him."They are targeting young people and women," according to Alizadeh. "Foreigners are behind it because it is targeting families. These schemes originate from around the Persian Gulf and England. When you draw the operational graph, you will see that it is a foreign operation."While the concept of Ms. Kardashian West being a “secret agent” may be considered laughable in the West, the effort is quite serious in Iran. “Operation Spider II” is now in effect by the Iranian government designed to crack down on any Instagram posts that Iranian authorities consider “un-Islamic”. According to the BBC, the OCCU has been monitoring around 300 Instagram web profiles and a number of modeling agencies, hair salons and photo studios in Iran with eight people already having been arrested.So far, there have been no comments from Instagram or Ms. Kardashian West about the accusations.